ForgottenWeapons

AK fm/54: Prototype Swedish Paratrooper Rifle (Ad-free)

As Sweden experimented with updating the AG42 Ljungman in the 1950s, one of the intermediate patterns was the fm/54. This took the 7.62mm NATO short stroke piston conversion already developed and added a 20-round box magazine and a Carl Gustaf m/45 folding stock to it. Not a Carl Gustaf style stock, mind you, but one cut directly off an m/45.

URZ: Czech Prototype Universal Modular Weapon (Ad-free)

The URZ (Univerzální Ruční Zbraň, or Universal Hand Weapon) was a 1966 project designed by Jiří Čermák (designer of the vz.58 rifle). He envisioned a weapons system family with largely interchangeable elements that could be configured as a service rifle, carbine, light machine gun, vehicular machine gun, or precision rifle. The Czech military was not interested, but Čermák was able to convince the government to allow its development for export instead.

The design is a delayed...

Q&A Request: Chinese Small Arms (w/ Jason Clower)

I am going to be doing some filming with Jason Clower (Type 56: The Story of China's Army; https://www.youtube.com/@Type56_Ordnance_Dept) and I figure that's a perfect opportunity for a Q&A. As someone quite knowledgeable on Chinese small arms, what would you like me to ask him?

FK Brno 7.5mm at the BackUp Gun Match (Ad-free)

The FK Brno is a take on the classic CZ75 pistol made in the Czech Republic. It was originally released as a boutique steel-framed gun, and then later as a much more affordable polymer-framed model. I have one of those polymer framed ones, with barrels for both 10mm Auto and the unique 7.5mm FK cartridge designed for this pistol. I decided to use the 7.5mm barrel for the BUG Match today, which is a 95gr bullet moving at 1800 fps. It should definitely knock down steel...if it can run long enou...

Deep Dive With Ian: Origins of the Navy SEALs

I've been holding out on you - I started a second channel a little while back, focused on SCUBA related material. It's a subject I am very interested in, but I didn't want to talk about it much until I had a few videos posted for people to see. I'm only posting there twice per month right now, although hopefully that will increase by the end of the year. Today's video is on the origins of the SEALs as Underwater Demolition Teams, so if you are interested in something like that, have a look an...

Arex Delta Machine Pistol Shoot-Off! (Ad-free)

I had a chance to visit the Arex factory in Slovenia recently, and they had a custom-made full-auto Arex Delta pistol. Well, who wouldn't want to give that a try? A whole bunch of us had a shoot-off with it...which I sadly did not win.

Orita 1941: The Original Romanian Submachine Gun (Ad-free)

The Model 1941 Orita was Romania's first domestic submachine gun, but after World War Two the design was upgraded in many ways. The Model 41/48 improved the stock, sights, and controls - and virtually all of the guns underwent these changes. Original configuration 1941 examples are extremely rare today, so I made sure to take this opportunity to show you the one in the Springfield Armory NHS reference collection when I was there filming.

Thanks to the Springfield Armory National Histor...

AK4 TP: Estonia's Modernized G3 DMR / Sniper (Ad-free)

When Estonia received a large influx of small arms from Sweden they got both regular AK4 rifles (Sweden's version of the G3) and scoped DMR models. The standard Estonian infantry squad had nine riflemen and one designated marksman, and the scoped G3s became a large part of the DMR armament as the AK4 TP ("Täitsa Pask" - Precision Rifle), replacing the rather disastrous M14TP. Some time between about 2004 and 2010, Estonia updated these rifles with new Magpul stocks and QD Versapod bipods. Th...

Jonathan Ferguson: British Military AR15s & Flintlock Revolvers (Ad-free)

Jonathan's book, "Thorneycroft to SA80":

https://www.headstamppublishing.com/bullpup-rifle-book

"Clockwork Basilisk: The Early Revolvers of Elisha Collier":

https://www.headstamppublishing.com/collier-book

"Who Invented the Wheelgun?":

2025-06-29 12:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post

Enjoying Black Powder Episode 12: The Model 1885 Remington-Lee (Ad-free)

Full video with reloading segment and clip solid file available here:

https://forgottenweapons.vhx.tv/videos/ep-12-rem-lee-app

Black powder military rifles of the 1860s-1880s are a really enjoyable group of guns. A lot of them are relatively reasonably priced, and they are actually pretty easy to reload for. The unavailability of factory ammunition (for most, although not so much for t...

Bullets and Bones: Archaeological View of the Battle of the Little Bighorn (ASAC Presentation) (Ad-free)

This lecture was presented at the Spring 2025 meeting of the American Society of Arms Collectors. It was given by Doug Scott, who ran a series of archaeological surveys of the Little Bighorn battlefield and coauthored a book on the results. You can find his book here:

https://amzn.to/443w6kD

I reviewed this book on the web site back in 2013; you can read that review here:

2025-06-27 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post

Samopal vz 38: Czechoslovakia's Interwar Drum-Fed SMG in .380 (Ad-free)

Military interest in a submachine gun was late in Czechoslovakia, but by the late 1930s a development program was put into place. Interestingly, the main use case for an SMG was seen as being a replacement for a rifle-caliber LMG in fortification mounts. The thought process seems to have been that a large volume of fire was the necessary element to keep invaders away from border fortresses, and the ballistic power of the fire was not so important.

The vz38 was designed by František M...

Galand de Guerre Model 1872: Too Good for the Military (Ad-free)

Charles François Galand is best known for his simultaneous-extraction Model 1868, but he also developed a very good solid-frame revolver. This was specifically for the French 1871 military trials, which specifically required a solid frame. The Galand was chambered for 12mm Galand (with its distinctive very thick rim), held 6 rounds, operated in either single or double action, required no tools to disassemble, and had very simple but durable lockwork. The gun was very good, and was a very tig...

YouTube & Guns Q&A Roundtable (Feat. Bloke, Ziga, and PSR) (Ad-Free)

This month I am excited to invite three other firearms YouTube channels to join me in the Q&A - Polenar Tactical, Bloke on the Range, and PrintShootRepeat. We all just finished shooting Lynx Brutality (put on by Polenar Tactical) and took the opportunity to address a bunch of questions about firearms and YouTube. If you like this, please consider joining the Patreon support for your favorite channels:

Forgotten Weapons:

2025-06-21 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post

YouTube & Guns Q&A Roundtable (Feat. Bloke, Ziga, and PSR) (Audio Only)

This month I am excited to invite three other firearms YouTube channels to join me in the Q&A - Polenar Tactical, Bloke on the Range, and PrintShootRepeat. We all just finished shooting Lynx Brutality (put on by Polenar Tactical) and took the opportunity to address a bunch of questions about firearms and YouTube. If you like this, please consider joining the Patreon support for your favorite channels:

Forgotten Weapons:

2025-06-21 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post

One-Gun Action Match: Stuff & Things "Stizon" Kit (Ad-free)

The PP-19 Bizon is a Russian 9mm AK model using helical drum magazines, made in several calibers. It was taken into service in 1996, and has been making Western AKphiles drool ever since, because who wouldn't want a compact 9mm SMG with a 64-round capacity (64 rounds in 9x18 Mak; 53 rounds in 9x19 Parabellum).

Well, Stuff & Things recently released their "Stizon", which is a kit to let you mimic the Bizon on one of four different US 9mm AK platforms (PSA AKV, CAI NAK 9, CAI 9S, or K...

Swedish Kulspruta m/36 Double Browning MGs (Ad-free)

Despite being a neutral power during World War Two, Sweden had a variety of very interesting small arms - like their dual-mount Browning m/36 machine guns. These were originally adopted because the Swedes wanted a heavier medium MG cartridge and didn't think their delayed-blowback Schwarzlose guns could handle it. The cartridge was 8x63mm, pushing a 219 grain projectile at 2500 fps. The m/36 Browning was a water cooled gun, an improvement on the older M1917 design. It not only handled the pow...

Prodynamic II: A New High-End Competition Pistol (Ad-free)

Proarmis is a Slovenian pistol manufacturer that has introduced a new high-end competition pistol (priced at approximately €4000). The first example has arrived in the US, and I had the chance to borrow it for some filming. The gun handles very well, and has a really remarkably adjustable trigger - the user can adjust basically every aspect of weight, travel, and over travel as either a single-stage or 2-stage setup. It's a pleasure to shoot, but the quality is more than I can fully exploit...

Car Park Gunfight & Hostage Escape: Lynx Brutality 2025 Day 2 (Ad-free)

Polenar Tactical has done it again, setting the bar for Brutality matches with this year's Lynx Brutality. Held at the Lynx Pro Training Center outside Kočevje Slovenia, this year's match was 10 stages over two days. My plan was to shoot the match in a covert sort of rig with a suit from Grayman & Co, but thanks to FedEx the suit never arrived. So I just took the jeans and combat shirt I had and ran with it. My pistol was a P365 with a Gideon Valor Mini fully-enclosed compact red dot and...

Trip Mines and Sisyphus' Kettlebell: Lynx Brutality 2025 Day 1 (Ad-free)

Polenar Tactical has done it again, setting the bar for Brutality matches with this year's Lynx Brutality. Held at the Lynx Pro Training Center outside Kočevje Slovenia, this year's match was 10 stages over two days. My plan was to shoot the match in a covert sort of rig with a suit from Grayman & Co, but thanks to FedEx the suit never arrived. So I just took the jeans and combat shirt I had and ran with it. My pistol was a P365 with a Gideon Valor Mini fully-enclosed compact red dot and...

AR-1 "Parasniper" - The First Armalite (Ad-free)

The first rifle produced by Armalite began in 1952 as a project between the brothers-in-law, Charles Dorchester and George Sullivan (no relation to later Armalite engineer L. James Sullivan). Sullivan is the chief patent attorney for the Lockheed aircraft company, and the two have the idea to produce an ultra-light rifle using aircraft industry materials like fiberglass and aluminum. They create a company called SF Projects and get to work using Remington actions. They fit aluminum (and then ...

Modern Stocked Pistol: B&T's Universal Service Weapon (USW) (Ad-free)

The genesis of the B&T USW was a two and a half hour car ride home from a youth hockey game, when Karl Brugger and a friend were thinking about how to improve police effectiveness with handguns. What would make a handgun more accurate in practice? Clearly a red for and a shoulder stock. So how does one add those elements to a pistol while maintaining easy carry in a service holster? The answer was the USW.

The first prototypes were built on AT-84 Sphinx pistols (a Swiss-made copy of...

H&K MG4: Germany's New 5.56mm Squad Machine Gun (Ad-free)

Heckler & Koch released the MG4, a new 5.56mm squad machine gun in 2001. It was adopted by the German army in 2005, and then by the Spanish and Portuguese armies in 2007. Alongside its sister weapon the 7.62mm MG5, it is H&K's current export machine gun.

The MG4 fires from an open bolt, with a 2-lug rotating bolt locking system and a long stroke gas piston operating system. It uses standard M27 NATO links for feeding, and does not have a semiauto selector setting. Mechanically, ...

"Kevin" - A Czech Pocket Pistol With a Weird Delay Trick (Ad-free)

The "Kevin" (sometimes called a ZP-98) was developed by Czech gunsmith Antonín Zendl and introduced at the IWA show in 2007. It was a micro-compact pocket pistol chambered for either .380 ACP or 9mm Makarov (the Kevin M). It held six rounds in its magazine, and the most notable feature is a pair of gas vent holes just in front of the barrel. These blow gas against the slide, maybe delaying its opening - and also reduce chamber pressure and velocity to reduce felt recoil.

In 2008, the d...

"Kevin" - A Czech Pocket Pistol With a Weird Delay Trick (Ad-free)

The "Kevin" (sometimes called a ZP-98) was developed by Czech gunsmith Antonín Zendl and introduced at the IWA show in 2007. It was a micro-compact pocket pistol chambered for either .380 ACP or 9mm Makarov (the Kevin M). It held six rounds in its magazine, and the most notable feature is a pair of gas vent holes just in front of the barrel. These blow gas against the slide, maybe delaying its opening - and also reduce chamber pressure and velocity to reduce felt recoil.

In 2008, the ...

GHM-9: B&T's 9mm Budget Carbine (Well, Swiss Budget) (Ad-free)

The GHM-9 is a 9mm PCC from B&T that was developed as an economized alternative to the APC-9. It uses the same grip assembly as the APC-9, but a smaller and simpler upper receiver and a few of the other parts are simplified - like non-captive recoil springs. It has a variety of modular options and configurations, but not as many as B&T's other offerings.

Oh, and the name? It's for GrassHopper Mouse, a creature that hunts and eats scorpions. No idea what that could be a reference...

IanPat is Back: Make Something Cool and Win! (Ad-free)

Get IanPat hats and fabric here:

https://www.varusteleka.com/en/category/forgotten-weapons-merchandise/2852

The IanPat uniforms from last year were really popular, but they were a one-time special product. Today, Varusteleka dropped a new batch of IanPat operator caps and boonie hats, plus raw IanPat fabric for you creative types.

The Contest:

If you make ...

Gerat Potsdam: Mauser Copies the Sten Gun (Ad-free)

In the fall of 1944, the Mauser company was given a contract to develop drawings of a direct copy of the British Sten gun (code named Gerät Potsdam), and to manufacture 10,000 of them. In fact, they were to make two different sets of drawings; one suitable for large factory use (like their own) and one for use with distributed small shops making parts for final assembly elsewhere (which is how much of British Sten production was done). The contract was fulfilled and 9972 guns in total were p...

Serbu Super Shorty: Is It Awesome or Just Dumb? (Ad-free)

The Super Shorty is a pump action shotgun reduced to a 2-round tube capacity and a 6.5" barrel made by Serbu Firearms. The first one was made in 1998 and since then Mark Serbu has made more than 6,000 of them. There have been a bunch of minor variations, including batches made on both Remington 870 and Mossberg 500 actions, models in both 12ga and 20ga, and some with 3+1 or 4+1 capacities. It's a gun that Serbs himself finds a bit ridiculous, but it is also his company's best know product, an...

Short Swiss Schmidt Rubins: M1900 Short Rifle & M1905 Cavalry Carbine (Ad-free)

When the Swiss military went to make a short version of its M1896 rifle for cavalry, it realized that the early Schmidt-Rubin action had a problem: it was really, really long. With locking lugs all the way to the rear of the receiver, the system was just not an efficient use of space for a carbine with a limited overall length...something else was needed. The stopgap solution was to purchase a carbine from the Austrians; the Steyr-Mannlicher M1897. This was a straight-pull Mannlicher system c...